Another Round of Price Increases ?

[eddyr]

Well seeing as the scenario of me having anywhere near that amount of money to invest is highly unlikely, then I'll answer as best as I can.

I'd do one of two things personally. Wait and see what happens then invest, or invest for now, then if the outcome was bad, then react by reinvesting somewhere else.

Actually your answer illustrates things pretty well. Wait and see is essentially the decision to not invest at the moment/short term.

Depending by what criteria you assess, 'outcome bad' could be highly likely in the near future, or for certain sectors right now, therby causing the reaction to reinvest elsewhere in the very immediate future.

 

[Greebo]

Well seeing as the scenario of me having anywhere near that amount of money to invest is highly unlikely, then I'll answer as best as I can.

I'd do one of two things personally. Wait and see what happens then invest, or invest for now, then if the outcome was bad, then react by reinvesting somewhere else.

On a personal level I don't plan that far ahead generally speaking. I'm grateful if I wake up the next morning, let alone years in advance. I take each day as it comes.

The point I was originally making was that there are too many different outcome scenarios to be reacting to and guessing this early. It could be we never actually leave the EU, a general election could happen where one of our parties pledges is to keep us/re-join in the EU if they get elected. Rarely is anything permanent in politics and the way a country is run.

You cant react if your investment is a 10 year one and would be destroyed in 2 years if things went bad.

So because of this you either sit on your money and dont invest or invest it somewhere else safer. Nobody likes to be sat on billions earning nothing so second result more likely.

 

[ljt]

Nobody likes to be sat on billions earning nothing so second result more likely.

I'd be quite happy sitting on billions
I'd be taking a long hard look in the mirror if I had billions and was still looking for it to make more. If I had billions I'd be making many thousands of people a lot happier

 

[Nasher]

I remember the 60s and 70s before the EU, things were bad.

What did we learn at school, things like making your own candles in case there was another power cut lol.

But that was just the era. It wasn't just like that in the UK. Some places in Europe had far worse living conditions.

 

[Greebo]

But that was just the era. It wasn't just like that in the UK. Some places in Europe had far worse living conditions.

Expect that France, Germany and italy had economic growth double of what we had at that time?

So yes it may have been bad everywhere but it was worse here. As soon as we joined the EU or growth started to rocket.

 

[Greebo]

I'd be quite happy sitting on billions
I'd be taking a long hard look in the mirror if I had billions and was still looking for it to make more. If I had billions I'd be making many thousands of people a lot happier

You dont your billions to just decrease due to inflation plus you have your lifestyle to fund etc.

ANyway, we arent really talking about individuals, but corporations. They cant afford to be stagnant and not invest as shareholders are looking for a return not for them to give it all away to charity

 

[Troezar]

When Deutsche Bank goes down and the Euro tanks this will be an interesting thread to revisit

 

[mikeo]

I remember the 60s and 70s before the EU, things were bad.

What did we learn at school, things like making your own candles in case there was another power cut lol.

The good old days, remember them well
Brought out the good old British spirit in people.
But then again, at my age, I suspect my memory is starting to fail

PS. Have I already mentioned that my Investment Portfolio is doing well? Can't seem to remember.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The good old days, remember them well
Brought out the good old British spirit in people.
But then again, at my age, I suspect my memory is starting to fail

PS. Have I already mentioned that my Investment Portfolio is doing well? Can't seem to remember.

You mean the constant industrial action??

 

[Troezar]

You mean the constant industrial action??

Impressed that the EU now prevents industrial action, someone better tell the French lol

 

[Nasher]

Expect that France, Germany and italy had economic growth double of what we had at that time?

So yes it may have been bad everywhere but it was worse here. As soon as we joined the EU or growth started to rocket.

But it has only benefited the multi-national corporations. For everyone else costs only went up. Pre-EU everyone considered Europe to be expensive and the UK cheap, not any more. Now all of Europe is expensive.

The EU was a great idea, but it just turned in to a way for the 1% to drive down wages and avoid tax.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The good old days, remember them well
Brought out the good old British spirit in people.

Impressed that the EU now prevents industrial action, someone better tell the French lol

You might want to read the comment he made first which I answered in jest - the 70s and the late 60s had a lot of issues with striking,etc and had massive issues as a result of the fallout of the oil crisis and so on. There was drought,leccy cuts,etc. The 1950s had severe austerity - in the 60s people were not rich,etc and at the end there were a boatload of issues and malcontent which had been pent up,ie,all the problems with unions and so on,which started emerging in the late 60s.

Plus even simple things as the type of food the average person ate was far more limited in scope and food costs were a much higher percentage of household outgoings than now.

It was hardly this perfect ideal world some are making it out to be.

People had it difficult,and I think decades of a very good healthcare,education and social welfare system have made people not appreciate how great life is here in the UK compared to most of the world.

My main worry is less the Brexit and more about our politicians. They cannot organise a **** up in a brewery and it makes me worried they will screw it all up.

They are more worried about their egos and party politics.

The worst that happens to them is that their political careers will be held back a few years,but they are all rich and their families will be fine whatever happens here and there will be never be any blowback from whatever they do.

The pathetic squabbling across the political spectrum shows they care more for being elected than doing the right thing for the public. Its bloody sad.

 

[Troezar]

You might want to read the comment he made first - the 70s and the late 60s had a lot of issues with striking,etc and had massive issues as a result of the fallout of the oil crisis and other issues. There was drought,leccy cuts,etc. The 1950s had severe austerity - in the 60s people were not rich,etc and at the end there were a boatload of issues and malcontent which had been pent up.
Plus even simple things as the type of food the average person ate was far more limited in scope and food costs were a much higher percentage of household outgoings than now.

It was hardly this perfect ideal world some are making it out to be.

People had it difficult,and I think decades of a very good healthcare,education and social welfare system have made people not appreciate how great life is here in the UK compared to most of the world.

Can agree with people being complacent but I wouldn't put any improvement down to EU membership. Could be that people voted out the poor governments and we paid off our war debts.

Now we have obesity epidemic, spiralling debt and ludicrous housing costs. Again I wouldn't blame anything specifically I see it more as a natural consequence of the ebb and flow of civilisations and economies. The last 200yrs has been a rollercoaster, industrialisation, robber Barons, wars and we can't out of it better off each time. I expect AI and robotics will usher in a new era of rapid change but I also expect we'll look back and be glad we did it

 

[Nasher]

The pathetic squabbling across the political spectrum shows they care more for being elected than doing the right thing for the public. Its bloody sad.

Same with politicians, CEOs, etc anywhere you go. They are all the same type of person. Ironicly the people who make the best leaders don't want to be leaders because they don't lust for power or riches. It's a strange paradox

 

[Tute]

Same with politicians anywhere you go. They are all the same type of person. Ironicly the people who make the best leaders don't want to be leaders

I doubt anyone who has the brains and vision to make a difference could actually make a difference as they'd be hammered into towing the party line pretty quickly.

"Fix the country, what on Earth would we do that for?"

It's a shame as I do believe a united Europe is -eventually- the way forward. But I can't bring myself to vote for the current EU given it has absolutely no idea how to deal with Europe's problems, and no ability to forsee things happening and deal with them before they get serious.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Can agree with people being complacent but I wouldn't put any improvement down to EU membership. Could be that people voted out the poor governments and we paid off our war debts.

Now we have obesity epidemic, spiralling debt and ludicrous housing costs. Again I wouldn't blame anything specifically I see it more as a natural consequence of the ebb and flow of civilisations and economies. The last 200yrs has been a rollercoaster, industrialisation, robber Barons, wars and we can't out of it better off each time. I expect AI and robotics will usher in a new era of rapid change but I also expect we'll look back and be glad we did it

The problem is that I just see them just pivoting more towards the US. None of our lot care that much beyond the next election. Its all short term politics and appeasing certain countries. Like I mentioned in an earlier post - things like Airbus and Arianespace show how countries like France took the bull by the horns and made success against a monopoly situation. We just gave up since it was "cheaper" short term just to buy stuff from the US,etc. Maybe politics in this country and indeed business needs to look more longterm. IMHO,this is why I think both France and Germany have done reasonably well in certain industries. They could have easily just bought stuff cheaper abroad but actually invested in homegrown industries more.

Look at small British companies like Reaction Engines Ltd?? They are developing an innovative engine which could change things in spaceflight,launching stuff,etc and they are literally begging for funds here and there.

Just last month they had to scale back the size of the engine they are building due to "slowness of funding" despite getting the precooler to work(which was a massive achievement with the funding they had). You know what will happen - they will get it to work and then some foreign investor will buy the company and it will be built elsewhere. Yet,in absolute terms the amounts they are asking are not massive.

The same with one of the Sheffield companies which makes certain key assemblies for nuclear reactors(one of two in the world IIRC). The government promised more funds and they cut that back quite a bit so less jobs were created and plenty of countries are going full steam ahead building reactors.

Yet,when it comes to bombing some third world country back to the stoneage there suddenly appears to be hundreds of millions or billions of pounds of dosh available.

This is the sort of stuff we should be investing in - not low paid manufacturing with no proper contract as people will still be poor and it can still be done cheaper in China.

Its cheaper for a company to catch fish in the Atlantic,ship it to China to be processed and packed and then for it to be sent back here!

Same with politicians, CEOs, etc anywhere you go. They are all the same type of person. Ironicly the people who make the best leaders don't want to be leaders. It's a strange paradox

Yeah,but look at the issues now going all the way from right to left.

I would expect this more from poorer countries TBH!

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Regarding housing - the rate of house building has dropped massively in the last 25 years and lots of affordable housing was sold at a pittance to buy votes. The massive jumps in the housing market is somewhat artificially created IMHO. After all see what happened when the overinflated housing market in the US collapsed when people could not afford to pay their mortgages - it lead to the current issues we are in.

This is why the housing market is bumped up in price as is the fact more should have been done to push jobs from the South East to places like Wales and the north of the country where there is simply more land to be had.

If there was an actual political will to do it,it would have happened IMHO.

 

[Troezar]

Cat seems we're mostly in agreement. We are definitely becoming Americans. Their culture in in every living room every night. Halloween had become Americanised, we have school proms, kids all have conditions which are medicalised and treated with drugs. Their cultural issue are becoming ours. Every time I listen to the BBC their experts and academics begin a reply with "So", a very American affectation. Our politics is becoming about personality not policy, see the Brexit campaign for that. Even our online newspapers have very Americanised english, sometimes even spelling. Kids asking for candy target than sweets, Black Friday....etc.

That's not anti American, I love a lot about the US, but we should all be aware that a smaller weaker culture will eventually be overwritten by a larger one, especially when we speak, almost, the same language!

As for housing the biggest was irresponsible lending. Lots of people now in houses that are only expensive due to the bidding war with other people's money. Their cars are also bought on borrowed money and whilst the monthly payment may seem small over the long term buying new cars every few years costs. No wonder that the liquidity has been sucked out of the economy.

That's the reason they're scared to raise interest rates they know too many people would be out on the street or bankrupt.

I can think of dozens of people who would be in serious trouble if the bank rate was 5℅ again. I've spent a good few years insulating myself from too much debt as like a lot of analysts think they'll be another economic crunch and it could be very painful. It won't be any single entities fault but an accumulation of decisions by policy makers and public alike to throw caution to the wind and have today what we should have waited for until tomorrow.

 

[mikeo]

You mean the constant industrial action??

I used to be a shop Steward back in the day at Hawker Siddeley.
Good fun that was. O'how I remember bringing the "boyz" out in support of the striking Miners. Then at the end of the march, it was round to the Buccaneer for a coupe of pints

 

[mikeo]

Hey... wasn't this thread supposed to be something to do with the rising prices of GPU's?

Think we've lost our way a bit, rather like the EU in my opinion